Sharpening angle for Victorinox 4" Rabbit Knife

[Keith Edmunds]

For Lanksy/Gatco sharpening kits - I used 19 degrees on the first sharpening - seems okay??

 

[Longstrider]

If it works for you why worry ? Personally I'd have put a convexed secondary on it and then just maintained with a loaded strop.

 

[Dazb1967]

I have a number of Victorinox general kitchen knives that just require a quick run over a good steel a few times a week, Though I wouldn't recommend this for my for good stalking knives I think a steel is quite adequate for this type of knife

 

[Drum123]

If it works for you why worry ? Personally I'd have put a convexed secondary on it and then just maintained with a loaded strop.

Ok , I'm going to ask the question for myself and all the others who are thinking what does that mean , what does that mean and of course how would it be done ? Any links to videos etc. I'm been genuine here , not an arse , I sharpen knives all the same , either lansky , steel or strop. I assume none of these will give the edge you recommend?
Paul

 

[Keith Edmunds]

I have a number of Victorinox general kitchen knives that just require a quick run over a good steel a few times a week, Though I wouldn't recommend this for my for good stalking knives I think a steel is quite adequate for this type of knife

I am crap with a 'steel'

 

[Heym SR20]

I am crap with a 'steel'

Start very slowly concentrating on keeping angles correct. It’s a muscle memory thing and once mastered it will be with you forever.

But start slowly keeping the angle constant.

And angle - put your thumb on back of blade, with blade in middle of thumb. Keeping hold of blade place edge on steel and lower till thump just touches, with blade at right angle to steel. Lift blade very slightly and draw the blade across steel keeping the right angle, but also draw it down the steel away from the edge.

To do the other side - lift blade up to the steel and repeat as above.

Note that a steel is great for topping up the edge, but is no substitute for a good proper sharpening with a stone. If blade is blunt it needs resharpening.

 

[BRYAN]

Is the Victorinox rabbit knife a THING?

 

[potshotpat]

Place a pound coin under the spine of the knife, and that's the angle you need for working on a stone and a steel.

 

[Keith Edmunds]

Is the Victorinox rabbit knife a THING?

Well.....It's a knife and I suppose a knife is a thing??

 

[Longstrider]

Ok , I'm going to ask the question for myself and all the others who are thinking what does that mean , what does that mean and of course how would it be done ? Any links to videos etc. I'm been genuine here , not an arse , I sharpen knives all the same , either lansky , steel or strop. I assume none of these will give the edge you recommend?
Paul

I work with diamond hones and prefer a convexed secondary bevel on most knives that I can maintain with a strop. Rather than worrying about keeping to a 'set angle' for an edge I make the edge so that it has a curved profile, very much like the ogive of a very very slim bullet. The steepness of the curve can be altered according to taste and to the function of the tool in question. Axes are obviously made with a 'chunkier' convex edge than knives. Not just because the steel is thicker but to withstand the hard use the thing will be getting. A heavy 'chopping' knife (like a camp bowie) can have a more obtuse edge than a gralloching blade for the same reason, but still be just as sharp.
With practice you can alter the overall profile of an edge to match circumstance.

Stropping an edge hard on a loaded leather strop will always tend to convex it by virtue of the way the leather will deform beneath the edge, rounding off the corner between a set-angle edge and the primary bevel and wearing away microscopically at the edge itself. Repeated stropping sessions will end up giving you a convexed secondary.
By making the secondary bevel an appropriately steep or shallow convex, where the edge is as sharp as can be and the back of the secondary merges seamlessly into the primary bevel you have what is to my mind the most easily maintained and most effective edge for 99% of tasks.
Scandi ground blades are an obvious exception as they are single bevel.

 

[Drum123]

I work with diamond hones and prefer a convexed secondary bevel on most knives that I can maintain with a strop. Rather than worrying about keeping to a 'set angle' for an edge I make the edge so that it has a curved profile, very much like the ogive of a very very slim bullet. The steepness of the curve can be altered according to taste and to the function of the tool in question. Axes are obviously made with a 'chunkier' convex edge than knives. Not just because the steel is thicker but to withstand the hard use the thing will be getting. A heavy 'chopping' knife (like a camp bowie) can have a more obtuse edge than a gralloching blade for the same reason, but still be just as sharp.
With practice you can alter the overall profile of an edge to match circumstance.

Stropping an edge hard on a loaded leather strop will always tend to convex it by virtue of the way the leather will deform beneath the edge, rounding off the corner between a set-angle edge and the primary bevel and wearing away microscopically at the edge itself. Repeated stropping sessions will end up giving you a convexed secondary.
By making the secondary bevel an appropriately steep or shallow convex, where the edge is as sharp as can be and the back of the secondary merges seamlessly into the primary bevel you have what is to my mind the most easily maintained and most effective edge for 99% of tasks.
Scandi ground blades are an obvious exception as they are single bevel.

Thank you for taking the time to explain this . I guess by stropping as heavy as I do I will be imparting a secondary bevel without knowing it. Then Ill remove it the next time I use the 19° setting on the lansky.
Thank you
Paul
Thank you

 

[Longstrider]

A little confusion I think ... The secondary bevel is the bit you sharpen currently at 19 degrees. It's just that stropping it will tend to round the 'corner' between the primary bevel and this flat 19degree surface that you have created with the hone. If you didn't hone for a long while, and just stropped to maintain the edge, it would eventually become convexed fully from the primary to the edge.
The secondary bevel is only a very narrow strip along the edge of the blade, but I can see where on it I need to hone to create a convex with my diamond hones and I then polish that convex with the strop. I've only been practicing for 50 years, but I'm definitely getting the hang of it



That was a few years ago (filmed by a mate and added to YT by him). I called in to see him on the way home from a rabbitting night. That knife had paunched, headed, and legged about 20 bunnies that night before the film was taken.

 

[75]

Place a pound coin under the spine of the knife, and that's the angle you need for working on a stone and a steel.

that gives you a different angle depending on the depth of the blade. A very slim profile will be too steep an angle and (taking it to extremes) a really deep bladd like a cleaver will be too shallow.

 

[Shaun Goss]

A little confusion I think ... The secondary bevel is the bit you sharpen currently at 19 degrees. It's just that stropping it will tend to round the 'corner' between the primary bevel and this flat 19degree surface that you have created with the hone. If you didn't hone for a long while, and just stropped to maintain the edge, it would eventually become convexed fully from the primary to the edge.
The secondary bevel is only a very narrow strip along the edge of the blade, but I can see where on it I need to hone to create a convex with my diamond hones and I then polish that convex with the strop. I've only been practicing for 50 years, but I'm definitely getting the hang of it



That was a few years ago (filmed by a mate and added to YT by him). I called in to see him on the way home from a rabbitting night. That knife had paunched, headed, and legged about 20 bunnies that night before the film was taken.

Which diamond stones do you use please are they the larger flat sort or a small file kind?

 

[Longstrider]

I use DMT Diafolds. I hold the knife with my left hand and the hone in my right. That way I am working on the upper surface of the secondary bevel and I can see where I'm working. With bench stones you're working on the underside of the blade and cannot see what you're doing until you stop and lift the blade.

 

[Overlay]

I can’t even understand flat grind with a secondary micro grind whatever that is, I’d love to be able to use a oil stone to sharpen my knives, but I can only sharpen flat grind knives, period, scandi grind I can’t even get close to sharp, is there a proper guide for this to give you a recommended angle for grinds and degrees of grind for a oil stone
I’ve got a drawer full of knives I can’t sharpen properly, I’d love to get em all razor sharp myself and use them with the others

 

[Longstrider]

There are any number of 'How to's' on Youtube. Most show the process with one of the many jig systems available where they insist that only 'proper' way to sharpen is at a set angle (which the jigs do NOT achieve BTW .. it's simple geometry)
I was taught to do the job by hand and eye by my grandfather and that's how I've done it ever since. Practice is the key I guess. Get it right once and remember what you did so that you can repeat it.

 

[Overlay]

Yep
I’ve always used oil stones, but been dragged into the super duper age of diamond and angle grinds etc etc I have got a proper belt sharpener but scared to use it on my half decent blades
Got make thinking now when I get a minute spare I’ll get back to a basic sharpening system on oil, i’ve got plenty of half sharp blades to practice on and keep on iot until I either run out of steel or they get sharp

 

[Shaun Goss]

I use DMT Diafolds. I hold the knife with my left hand and the hone in my right. That way I am working on the upper surface of the secondary bevel and I can see where I'm working. With bench stones you're working on the underside of the blade and cannot see what you're doing until you stop and lift the blade.

Thankyou